The Crisis of Global Poverty
Global poverty is defined differently depending on where you are in the world. The World Bank sets a “poverty threshold” of $1 per day to compare poverty in most of the developing world, $2 per day in Latin America, $4 per day in Eastern Europe and $14.40 per day in industrial countries. Another poverty measure is based on whether individuals are experiencing hunger, which is defined as consuming less than 1,960 calories a day. In South Asia 1 in 4 goes hungry, and in sub-Saharan Africa as many as 1 in 3 goes hungry. Poverty has associated problems including infant mortality, malnutrition, and vulnerability. It is estimated that approximately one in every three of the world’s people lives in poverty. If people don’t have the resources they cannot survive. There may be challenges with unsafe water, lack of proper health care, or homelessness in addition to hunger that precipitate hunger. The question social workers must deal with is what are the reasons for such extreme global poverty? Is it ethical for richer, industrialized nations to allow such conditions to continue? To what extent is it these wealthier nations’ ethical responsibility to address global poverty? What if anything, can or should be done to help? Global Conflict Cox and Pawar (2006) talk about the stats on conflict and tell us that when you review history you realize the extremely common inability of social groups, nations and empires to live at peace with their neighbors. In their attempt to control and take over territory, to enslave people and to gain power and status, there is continual conflict. This has been evidenced by two of the worst wars known to history in the last century. They also note that since the end of the Cold War in 1989 the world has been experiencing upwards of 30 civil wars at any one time, with very high casualty figures, especially among civilians. A major goal of the United Nations is world peace, however it does not appear that this has been a successful undertaking in that at best they have helped to contain many situations. This of course, when viewed on a larger scale impacts people’s personal lives and social contexts, economic conditions, physical infrastructure and the environment. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/13/world-of-conflict-photos_n_4442029.html Immigration Status: Forced Migration of People in Need Cox and Pawar (2006) let us know that it is estimated about 50 million people worldwide are displaced from their community of origin, although they would rather have stayed at their home. Some of the reasons for their having to move include extreme poverty, widespread social conflict, natural disasters, and low levels of development. Immigration involves the permanent movement from one country to another. There are levels of immigration status. Social workers are often called to work with immigrants and need to understand the terms and issues involved. Potocky-Tripodi (2002) defines many important concepts related to this group. The fundamental distinction between immigrants and refugees is that immigrants leave their countries voluntarily, usually in search of better opportunities, where refugees are forced out because of human rights violations against them and are sometimes referred to as exiles or é''migré''s. Legally, anyone not a citizen of the United States is termed an alien. This grouping is broken down further into immigrants and nonimmigrants, and as documented or undocumented. In this classification, an immigrant'' is a person legally admitted into the United States and granted the privilege to be a permanent resident (a ‘green card’ holder). A ''nonimmigrant is a foreign-born person who is temporarily in the United States – a tourist, student or seasonal worker. The expectation is that they will return to their own country after a designated period of time. A documented alien is someone who has the legal right to be in the United States and is determined by admissions policy. This policy details many categories of people who are eligible to be legally admitted. It also specifies how many people from each country may be legally admitted into the United States each year. An undocumented alien is someone who does not have a legal right to be in the United States. They are sometimes referred to as illegal immigrants or deportable aliens, because if discovered they are subject to be deported to their country. There are two ways people become undocumented aliens. They either enter the country illegally (crossing the border from Mexico without going through the proper immigration process) or violate the terms of their visa. If a person has a visa with a specific time and stays longer than that time, they are no longer documented. A person’s legal status can change over time and is referred to as adjustment of status. After one year of residency a refugee is eligible to become a permanent resident. Permanent residents (including refugees and immigrants) may be eligible to become U.S. citizens after 5 years. They then become known as naturalized citizens. Sue and Sue (2008), report that many people from other countries receive or need social services. They state that there are over 33 million legal and illegal immigrants living in the U.S., totaling about 12 percent of the population. 36 percent are legally documents, 32 percent are naturalized citizens and about 28 percent are undocumented. Over half of the immigrants coming into the U.S. are from Latin America, with Mexico being the largest contributor. Of this group it is determined that there is a higher incidence of poverty as they tend to earn lower wages. People with different national origins often have difficulty integrating into mainstream culture and is intensified due to challenges with language differences. They also are faced with finding adequate housing and adapting to the cultural difference of fitting into the social fabric of neighborhoods and communities. Immigration issues in Arizona – video clip Community Development The question is asked what should be done in response to the turbulence and many issues facing the global community. How can resources be distributed more fairly and enhanced social justice attained? Rivera and Erlich (2001) define Community Development as efforts to mobilize people who are directly affected by a community condition (that is, the “victims” the unaffiliated, the unorganized, and the nonparticipating) into groups and organizations to enable them to take action on the social problems and issues that concern them. A typical feature of these efforts is the concern with building new organizations among people who have not been previously organized to take social action on a problem. In other words, Community Development deals with working with a designated community of people who have cultural values in common and also share similar social and economic conditions. The ideal result is to have these people actively involved in their growth and development to empower them as a community. The goals are to improve their living conditions and enhance the quality of their lives. Theoretical Functions of Communities Approaching community development from the functionalist perspective, Warren (1983) who is one of the leading early theorists on communities gave five basic functions that communities should serve. 1. Production-distribution-consumption. This function is where community members participate in the producing, distributing and consuming the goods that are a part of daily living. 2. Socialization. This process is where knowledge and social values and behaviors are communicated. One primary method is education. 3. Social Control. This is a process through which a group influences the behavior of its members toward conformity with its norms. Although the first thought as it relates to social control is the government with its laws and police to enforce those laws, other social units play a part in this, including the family, the school, the church and the social agency. 4. Social Participation. This deals with the involvement of citizens in social, political and economic processes. This would take the form of people participating in religious organizations, businesses, public health and welfare organizations and family and friendship groups. This is a primary goal in achieving social justice. 5. Mutual support. This involves encouragement, assistance, caring and cooperation among people in communities. Traditionally, such support is done in groups with family and relatives, neighborhood groups, friendship groups and local religious groups. Today, however, many support groups are being offered by public welfare departments, insurance companies and some government agencies. BACK TO HOME PAGE